Virtual Training: Training to your doorstep

How the current COVID-19 pandemic has brought about the need of virtual training for both players and coaches.

by Treiner


Posted 3 years ago


Virtual Training: Training to your doorstep

2020 has been tough so far with the pandemic of course and the struggles don’t stop. The sports industry has been affected the most with matches and training either not happening and if they do happen then guidelines say that they should be done without fans. Playing with friends and training with respective teams has been in jeopardy for most of the year and with the lockdown still prevalent, things don’t look very good in a lot of parts of the globe. It is understandable that training alone can get boring and tedious at times and players, especially young players can lose interest quickly. Some problems we’ve come across these times include parents worried for their kids to become lazy and play video games all day, regular football players worried about losing their skill set they have worked hard for in the past and teams/clubs facing a hard challenge to keep their coaches occupied and players intact.

After a lot of speculation, the one stop solution that has been formulated and is being used by a lot of clubs across the globe is virtual training. With technological development and varied innovation virtual training provides a platform for players to connect with coaches and keep up their learning and conditioning. Virtual training has come as a boon for football clubs and teams in order to be ready for the restart. It has helped coaches and trainers from different parts of the work connect with players and enthusiasts and regular exercise, conditioning, skill training and nutrition sessions have been carried out. This is not just it, virtual training has provided more than support to sports, and the next we will be discussing as to what makes it so effective.

Virtual

Advantages of Virtual Training

-Virtual training absolutely removes the idea of distance and geography when it comes to training and learning together. A player can learn various skills from different coaches in different parts of the world. With different restrictions everywhere, the need to constantly be in contact with your trainer or coach is completely served by virtual training.

-From making weekly schedules, having multiple sessions in a day, regular contact with coaches and learning from different coaches at the same time are certain attributes that come with virtual training. Professional football clubs used virtual training platforms to organize all day warm up and skill training sessions where players were given tasks and collective training was formulated. The spirit of the sport was restored as players could always have a laugh together and know each other’s well beings.

-A good coach needs to maintain the following attributes with the players and the team/club management, trust and rapport. Having active coaches on the virtual training platform does give an opportunity to players to engage and learn on a daily basis, but having the right coaches is a very essential building block for success. Regular training sessions with the same coach along with virtual training make the entire session complete for effective training and development of players.

-It is very important to concentrate on quality and not quantity, which means having a lot of players in a virtual training session can make it very difficult for coaches to concentrate on each one of them. Moreover, more the players the more are the questions and hence the sessions need to be longer. With time constraints applicable for most people, short, effective and sessions containing less players are ideal.

Disadvantages of Virtual training in large groups

Virtual Training sessions can have their own pros and cons. One important aspect to keep in mind is making sure the number of players or athletes participating in the session should be less. It is beneficial for both players and the coach in this case for the following reasons:

-The more the participants, the longer the training session. Since everyone wants to learn by regularly attending these virtual sessions, the coach has to make sure all queries are solved during the time allocated for the session. If the virtual call has more participants then finishing all the pre-decided topics or exercises will be very difficult for the coach which would further lead to back log.

-These virtual training sessions are specially designed to focus on player development and analysing the shortcoming a player has and to directly work on improving on that. For a coach it is essential to make notes as to what is a particular player’s weakness and hence develop the next session plan according to that. The more the number of players involved in a session the more difficult it is going to be for the coach or whoever is conducting the session to make correct and effective notes.

-If general physical training sessions are being conducted then having a mass audience is not a problem. Since these sessions are more about following the coach and less about individual training and improvement.

-Providing personal feedback to a lot of players is again going to take a lot of time. A personal feedback is very important for the player as it is a session to session analysis of the players performance. Especially in cases of injury rehabilitation providing individual feedback is key. Thus, making sure the coach or club focuses on quality and not quantity is vital.

Effective virtual training through Treiner

With globalization and extensive technological development in the field of sports as well as communication, it has become very easy for coaches and players to communicate online using one of these laptops/personal computer/smartphone and a decent internet connection. We at Treiner have also kept in pace with the current technological advancements and offer virtual training sessions through zoom. We have also partnered with All in, a virtual training specific platform.

  • Zoom: It is one of the most trending online communication platforms providing a variety of features for both professional and non-professional activities. Similarly, Zoom has turned out to be a boon for virtual soccer training globally. With the pandemic on it’s coarse and social distancing measures intact in most countries, Zoom provides a way to engage players and coaches for physical training, basic conditioning and essentially some skill training sessions. A lot of clubs have effectively used Zoom as a platform for their physical training session amidst the lockdown and it has turned out to be very beneficial for them. Liverpool FC and Tottenham Hotspurs, to name a few clubs using Zoom.

  • All In: It is a website that brings together coaches, trainers and players to interact with one another. It provides a unique way for coaches to upload videos of various exercises or drills and then their software repeats in on loop. The coach/trainer can decide for how many times a particular exercise/drill needs to be done or how many sets are required for a particular player. The flexibility in choice for the trainer makes it a very effective platform. The trainer can formulate an entire session plan and include different exercises or drills and make sure nothing’s left behind. If you would like to get set up on Allin, the following link will help you get set up.(https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2650949661788048&extid=Z0S8OaiqJVRQnf4q)

Best practices for coaches for virtual training sessions

  • Make sure all players are well informed prior to the session.

  • The number of participants in skill training or injury rehabilitation sessions should be less (preferably 5 per coach)

  • Plan the session at least 12 hours prior to the time of the session in order to know what to do when the time is right.

  • Engage all participants to make sure there is a homogeneous sense of development amongst all active participants.

  • Revise what was taught in previous sessions and make sure the players remember it.

  • Set up the connection and be present well before the starting time of the session as the coach leads the session and should be ready beforehand.


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